howland



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P, L. HOWLAND.

SORGHUM BVAPORATOR AND ROTARY SKIMMER.

No. 270,545. Patented Jan.9, 1883.

VE TOR 2&3 ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Moaei.)

L. HOWLAND.

SORGHUM BVAPORATOR AND ROTARY SKIMMER. No. 270,545.

Patel lted Ja,n.9, 1883..

I WI ESSES INVENTOR ATTORNEY Users STATES FREDERICK L. HOWLAND, OF BLUEEARTH CITY, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES H.

SCRGHUIVI EVAPORATOR ABBOTT, 0F SAME PLACE.

AND ROTARY SKIMMER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 270,545, dated January9, 183,

Application filed September 1, 1882. (N0 model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, FREDERICK L. HOW-LAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Blue Earth City, inthe county of Faribault and State of Minnesota, have invented a new anduseful Sorghum Evaporator and Rotary Skimmer, of which the following isa speeification.

My invention relates to improvements in oven-heated evaporator-s forsorghum or other saccharineliquidsin which the sen mismechani callyousted from the evaporatiug-pans.

The main features of novelty in my improvement are: a peculiar two-waydischarge for the scum; a portable sheet-metal casing divided intosuperimposed sections; a. special arrangementoftwo lines oifluesprovidedwith check-dampers midway therein, and deflecting inlet-danuiers toadmit and control the currents of hot and cold air where and as desiredto carry on properly the process of gradual higher-heated concentrationin the lower of the two co-operative evaporating-pans a connectionbetween the two evaporating-pans by direct tube and cook, by which thelower pan may be refilled by tapping from the upper pan from time totime, and a combination of certain coacting parts.

To more clearly show the construction and arrangement 'of the parts, myapparatus is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1represents a perspective View of my apparatus, with doors closed, as atwork. Fig. 2 represents a vertical longitudinal section made throughrotary skimmer belts, rollers, scrapers, pans, &c., near the wall. Fig.3 represents a perspective view of my apparatus with jacket or coverremoved and doors open to show theinterior. Fig. atis a perspective viewof my apparatus with doors open and tunnel applied to transfer liquid.Fig. 5 represents a perspective view of one of my improvedevaporatoepaus.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout all the views.

LetterA denotes my evaporator-pan proper, having the slant end A, andoutside of the latter the trough or eaves B, communicating with thescum-conductor D, which terminates at the discharge-spout D.

Letter 0 denotes a shedding-shield to catch the dropping from thescrapers L on the reversal of the skim mers L, as will be hereinaftermore fully explained. 5

Letter (Z denotes an aperture provided with strainer, in the pans side,near the dischargespout, to permit drippings or condeusations from thescum to return into the pan A. The end E of said pan is curvedconcentric with the roller V, that the skimmers when being reversed maytransversely fill that end of the pan. An inlet or chute, Z, in thecasing is employed to all the upper pan thereat, over said end E,without opening the upper doors, M M.

I employ two pans of the foregoing description, placed in a kind oftwo-story sheet-metal structure,- one above the other, with hot and coldair fines arranged beneath the pans and in the ends of saidstrueture,.all communicating with an oven in the base of theapparatus.

Letter F denotes said oven; 1%, the. ash-pan beneath the oven; R, thedoor of the oven; S, braces connecting the base .or oven with the 75superstructure. above the lower evaporatingpangy f, the supports of therear end of the base; 1, registers for admitting heat into the line P K,a damper for closing said register-openings, which dam peris coupledthrough a slot, (1, by bar or rod It, with the handle I) of the damperP, by which latter the fine 1 is opened as a passage for hot air. Saiddampers are so arranged that when one flue is shut the other isautomatically opened. \iVhen flue P is opened to let hot air into it,then the front end of line P at damper K will be open to let cold airinto it. The mingled hot and cold air ascends and may be conducted tothe stack N, either through the flue P or theflue 0 P underneath theupper evaporating-pan, the dampers 1 opening or closing either of saidlines at the will ot'the operator. Whendamper p closes the upwardpassage into line P cold airisletintosaidiiueattheopeningl (Shown inFig. 3.) The doors M M and T T may also be opened to cool the apparatuswhen desired. In the stack Nis also a damper, Q, to regulate the draft.

The above-mentioned devices to direct the hot and cold currents and tomodify them or arrest them in the flues are important precautionaryimprovements, not only to utilize the heat to best advantage, but alsoto avoid overflow of the pans by too rapid evaporation and too large apercentage of scum, as now occurs in apparatuses not soimproved when anintense heat is not under control.

Two other main features of the improx'ement remain to be explained bothcoacting to the end last described-that is, to facilitate the process ofevaporation and purifying by aid of high heat with little risk fromoverflowing. Said features are- First, the employment of the upper panto treat the crude saccharine liquid by moderate heating, and, after thegreater part of the scum has thus been generated and got rid of by lowheat or simmering, the denser part of the liquid, next the bottom ofsaid pan, is transferred by way of the spigot m and the tunnel or tubeY, in the manner illustrated, to the lower pan, to be therein exposed toa higher degree of heat. The apparatus is therefore built in severalstories, and the lower pan may have the full intensity of the heat fromthe oven F admitted to the whole of its bottom, only the sheet-ironofthe flue intervening, and the same heat-current may also be made totravel next the confine of the liquid in the said lower pan en route tothe stack N.

Second, the employment of an endless series of rotary shimmers for eachof the pans, the same being operated simultaneously by a band or chain,K, coupling the pulleys I1, and enabling both series to be operated bythe winch G. Said pulleys are on the shafts H, and actuate the reels V,which set in motion the carriers or chains L, which latter are suspendedon said reels and the rollers V, and have on them the shimmers L,transversely arranged upon said carriers. The shimmers L are of properlength to match the cross-section of the pans A, and are flexiblyattached only at one edge to said carriers, allowing the other edge todip into the liquid in the pan to be skimmed. The breadth ofsaidshimmers and the exit end A of the pan have such relalion and proximityto each other that the scum propelled by a given skimmer L may be oustedgently out of the pa n A into the trough or eaves B. The rollers V areso situated as to pass the carriers L on their under side, clear of theliquid in the pans, and the end E of the pan is concentric with theroller V, that the shimmers as they reverse about said roller may sweepthe scum clean from said end E.

The pivoted scrapers L catch the adherent scum on the shimmers L at thetime the latter are passing over the reels V, and thus cleanse them anddeposit the scum in the troughs B.

This ample and effective shimmer apparatus promptly removes the scum asit forms, thus enabling a higher degree of heat to be employed forevaporating, with little risk of overflow from foamin Vthat I desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is- 1. In combination withthe rotary shimmer L L V V, the undivided oblong evaporatingpan A,having its front end, A, slanted outward to favor oustingthe scum overitmechanically by said shimmer, the shielded scum-receiver O B,and theductD D,arrangcd on the exterior of thelong side of said pan forconveying the scum'from said receiver past an inlet, 11, thus allowingthe valuable drippings to return into the pan theroat, and dischargingthe value less scum at its open end, substantially as set forth.

2. For mounting the evaporating-pans A, the portable sheet-metal casingconsisting of the base-section composed of the oven I ,ashbox 1t, andsupportsfg, the middle or main section, It, with stack N thereon, andhaving therein the tines P P, communicating with said stack and saidoven, the top section, II, the braces S, and doors T T M M, allconstructed and arranged substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with a couple of evaporating-pans, A, mounted in acasing one above the other, with an intervening clear space between themfor admitting the rotary shimmerL L V V on the lower pan, the collateralflues P P, arranged one under the other and under the bottoms of thesaid pans, the dampers 11), about midway in the flue-course, and theinlet-dampers K P, coupled by the rod k, all adapted to pass the heatthrough either course of fines or to shut off the same, or to divide thesame and diminish it by admission of cold air, as and for the purposesset forth.

4. In combination with the upper one of two co-operative evaporatingpans, A, arranged vertically one over the other, and supported in acasing having flues P P, arranged under said pans, the cock m, and thedirect tube Y, applied to transfer portions of thepartially-concentrated liquid from the upper to the lower and morehighly-heated finishing-pan, substantially as herein set forth.

5. The combination of the freely-traveling rotary shimmers, supportedabove the pans A on rollers V, and reels V thereon, the pivoted scrapersL the chain or belt K, pulleys H, winch G, and the sectional casing h hFfg, all coacting in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

FREDERICK L. HOWLAND.

Vituesses:

H. J. NEAL, J. A. KIES'IER.

IIS

